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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Trump administration on Thursday set the clock ticking toward a mid-August start of renegotiations of the North American Free Trade Agreement with Canada and Mexico to try to win better terms for U.S. workers and manufacturers.

JEDDAH, Saudi Arabia (Reuters) - Saudi Aramco [IPO-ARMO.SE] is due to sign deals with 12 U.S. companies on Saturday during U.S. President Donald Trump's visit to Saudi Arabia, sources with knowledge of the matter said.

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Cleveland Federal Reserve Bank President Loretta Mester on Thursday repeated her call for further U.S.-interest rate hikes now that the economy has reached full employment and inflation is nearing the Fed's 2-percent goal.

HOUSTON (Reuters) - Halliburton Co , the No. 2 oilfield service provider, expects to raise prices more than 10 percent this year, a higher increase than many customers expect but one executives said is crucial to fuel the oil industry's nascent growth.

The S&P 500 Index is due for many more swings like Wednesday's in both directions, if the last 10 years history are any guide...

The volatility regime shifted dramatically since Trump was elected... are we due to go back to the old regime?

As Bloomberg notes, Wednesday was the fourth day this year in which the S&P 500 rose or fell more than 1 percent.

Similar moves occurred at least 38 times each year since 2009, when the bull market started. Among them were at least four fluctuations a year of more than 2 percent, a threshold not yet crossed in 2017.

Seasonals do not help..

But while the narrative for now is Trump's impeachment odds, we suspect there is far deeper issues, as we noted previously. The lagged response of the world's equity markets to Chinese liquidity is hard for even the most ignorant asset-gatherer to ignore - or argue causally.

In a press conference held moments ago by Brazil's embattled president Michel Temer, unable to scapegoat the latest political scandal rocking Brazil on Russia, he said that contrary to what some were expecting, he would not resign as he has "nothing to hide", and that he "never bought anyone's silence", meaning that once again Brazil is faced with the daunting prospect of having a painfully unpopular president who will most likely be impeached, yet who refuses to step down voluntarily, or quietly.

Here are the highlights from his brief address to the nation via BBG:

TEMER: I WANT TO MAKE DECLARATION

TEMER: I REQUESTED TO HEAR AUDIOS FROM BRAZIL TOP COURT

TEMER: YESTERDAY'S REVELATION BROUGHT BACK GHOST OF POL. CRISIS

TEMER: WE CAN'T THROW OUT OUR WORK

TEMER: I NEVER AUTHORIZED BRIBES TO STAY QUIET

TEMER: I DON'T HAVE ANYTHING TO HIDE

TEMER: I NEVER BOUGHT ANYONE'S SILENCE

TEMER: I WILL NOT STEP DOWN

TEMER: I WILL NOT RESIGN

Temer also said the he will fight the corruption charges in court, which means that instead of reform, Brazil now faces a long, painful legal process in which the highly unpopular president will instead focus on preserving his career, even as the formal impeachment protocol was started earlier today with a filing by the Brazilian opposition.

The Brazilian Real, having regained some lost ground during the day, dropped again during the Temer address.

Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov arrived in the Republic of Cyprus on Thursday for a working visit, which will last until May 20. There Lavrov is expected to hold talks with Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades and Foreign Minister Ioannis Kasoulidis. On the sidelines of the session, Lavrov met with Secretary General of the Council of Europe Thorbjorn Jagland.

At that point Lavrov took another pot shot at the US, a continuation of the trolling which started yesterday when Putin offered to provide US Congress with the transcript of the Lavrov-Trump meeting, which earlier this week led to media turmoil after the WaPo reported that Trump disclosed confidential information to the Russian foreign minister.

This was the exchange in question, which the Russian ministry of foreign affairs was all to eager to tweet earlier today.

The stock market has been banking on President Donald Trump and the Republican-led Congress delivering on tax overhaul and deregulation. What happens if trouble at the White House sends those hopes crashing?

Life without President Donald Trump. On Wall Street, recently this idea is being bandied about increasingly, as the commander-in-chief, who has seen his credibility as leader of the free world assailed relentless over the past week; ultimately, spurring Wall Street stocks into the worst tailspin in months.

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